When it comes to comfort foods, hot cereal tops the list for me—year round. My absolute favorite is farina (cream of wheat for the non-Italians) but there isn’t a local source. A close second is oatmeal. Happily, there is a local source for oatmeal (my second favorite hot cereal): Lightning Tree Farm in Millbrook, NY through Wild Hive Farm and Micro Mill.
Seems there are as many ways to make oatmeal as there are people who love it. Here’s my oatmeal recipe:
- Bring 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt to a boil.
- Stir in 1 cup of oats and reduce heat to medium.
- Keep stirring for about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let rest for about 8 minutes.
- If there’s any excess liquid, crank the heat back up and cook it off, stirring constantly.
I like to add a glug of milk then drizzle on some honey.
Sources for the oatmeal pictured above:
- milk from Stone Wall Dairy
- honey from McLaughlin Vineyards
How do you make your oatmeal?
My favorite way to eat oatmeal is raw, out of a container where it’s been mixed in with dried cranberries and walnuts. It’s so feathery and delicious!
Brady: I never thought of eating it raw! I think I’m going to try that.
I almost ordered seed for oats to grow them in my garden when I placed my FedCo seed order this year. I decided to grow more tomatoes instead of chancing it on this new-to-me crop.
Christine: The Sisters at Bluestone Farm (Brewster, NY) planted oats last year and had success with it.